Round 3: Ding Liren Takes Over Lead of Moscow Grand Prix
In a clash of co-leaders in Round 3 of the Moscow Grand Prix, Ding Liren of China prevailed over Hou Yifan, his compatriot, to take over sole lead of the tournament.
In contrast to the relative calm of the first two rounds, in which there were a total of only three decisive games, in Round 3 five of the games, or more than half ended decisively. In addition to the Ding-Hou game, Peter Svidler of Russia beat Pentala Harikrishna of India, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan defeated Michael Adams of England, Jon Ludvig Hammer of Norway downed Ernesto Inarkiev of Russia, and Salem Saleh of the United Arab Emirates beat Ian Nepomniachtchi of Russia.
Ding now leads the tournament with 2.5 points, followed by Svidler, Mamedyarov and Saleh, who have 2 points apiece.
The President of the Republic of Ingushetia Yunus-bek Yevkurov made a first symbolic move in the game Inarkiev-Hammer. In his interview to the official website Mr. Yevkurov said: “I`m really impressed with the organization of the Grand Prix event and I hope to organize one of the stages of GP series in the Republic of Ingushetia.”
He also played a friendly game against four-years-old chess talent Misha Osipov.
Twenty-four of the top players in the world are competing in the Grand Prix, with 18 playing in each tournament. (Each player competes in three of the four competitions.)
The Moscow Grand Prix is the second of four in the series. The top two finishers will qualify for the Candidates tournament next year to select a challenger for the World Championship.
The Moscow tournament is being held in the Telegraph building in central Moscow, a landmark building that is steps from the Kremlin. The Telegraph was also the site of the 2016 Candidates tournament.
The series is sponsored by Kaspersky Lab, the global cybersecurity company, PhosAgro, a giant Russian fertilizer company, and EG Capital Advisors, a global financial management company. Each tournament has a prize fund of 130,000 euros.
The series is organized by Agon Limited, the commercial partner of the World Chess Federation, the game’s governing body. All the games are broadcast on WorldChess.com, the official site of the World Championship.
Round 2: The Chinese Lead Moscow Grand Prix
Hou Yifan and Ding Liren, the two Chinese players in the Moscow Grand Prix, are tied for the lead after two rounds. While Hou drew in Round 2 with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France, Ding beat Ernesto Inarkiev of Russia to catch up to his compatriot.
There was one other decisive game as Ian Nepomniachtchi of Russia bounced back from his Round 1 loss to Hou to beat Jon Ludvig Hammer of Norway. The Moscow Grand Prix is the second of four in the series. Each tournament has a prize fund of 130,000 euros. The Moscow tournament is being held in the Telegraph building in central Moscow, a landmark building that is steps from the Kremlin. The Telegraph was also the site of the 2016 Candidates tournament.
The top two finishers in the Grand Prix will qualify for the Candidates tournament next year to select a challenger for the World Championship. Twenty-four of the top players in the world are competing in the Grand Prix, with 18 playing in each Grand Prix. (Each player competes in three of the four tournaments.)
The Grand Prix is organized by Agon Limited, the commercial partner of the World Chess Federation, the game’s governing body. Agon has the exclusive commercial rights to organize the cycle of the World Championship.
The Grand Prix is sponsored by Kaspersky Lab, the global cybersecurity company, PhosAgro, a giant Russian fertilizer company, and EG Capital Advisors, a global financial management company.
Though three of the seven games that were drawn in Round 2 were hard-fought, four were short and uninspired – three ended in less than 20 moves. Though such risk-averse play may be understandable given the high stakes, it is not exciting for the fans. The player who has best exemplified this trend is Alexander Grischuk of Russia, who drew his first game against Salem Saleh of the United Arab Emirates in 11 moves, and his second against Evgeny Tomashevsky, a compatriot, in 15 moves.
On the other end of the spectrum, Pentala Harikrishna of India has really worked hard. His first game against Hammer went 92 moves, and his second draw, against Francisco Vallejo Pons of Spain, was 82 moves.
Round 2 Photo Gallery
Hou Yifan Is Sole Winner in Round 1 of Moscow Grand Prix
The 2017 Grand Prix – a four-tournament series to select two players for the 2018 Candidates tournament – resumed on Friday with Round 1 of the second tournament, which is being held in Moscow.
Hou Yifan of China, the only woman in the series, was also the sole winner. She beat Ian Nepomniachtchi of Russia, gradually outplaying him from a nearly level position arising out of a peculiar variation of the Queen’s Gambit.
While the other games were drawn, several were hard fought and exciting. Jon Ludvig Hammer of Norway got a tangible material advantage against Pentala Harikrishna of India, but he was unable to convert and the game was drawn in 92 moves. Three other games -- between Anish Giri of the Netherlands and Boris Gelfand of Israel, Ernesto Inarkiev of Russia and Hikaru Nakamura of the United States, and Evgeny Tomashevsky and Peter Svidler, both of Russia -- all ended in perpetual checks.
The tournament is being held in the Telegraph building in central Moscow, a landmark building that is steps from the Kremlin. The Telegraph was also the site of the 2016 Candidates tournament.
The Grand Prix is being organized by Agon Limited, the commercial partner of the World Chess Federation, the game’s governing body. Agon has the exclusive commercial rights to organize the cycle of the World Championship.
Each Grand Prix has a prize fund of 130,000 euros. The Grand Prix is being sponsored by Kaspersky Lab, the global cybersecurity company, PhosAgro, a giant Russian fertilizer company, and EG Capital Advisors, a global financial management company.
Twenty-four of the world’s best players are competing in the Grand Prix, with 18 of them participating in each of the tournaments.
The first Grand Prix tournament was held in Sharjah, the United Arab Emirates, in February. Three players – Alexander Grischuk of Russia, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan, and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France – tied for first, with Grischuk winning on tiebreaks.
The third and fourth will be held in Geneva and Palma de Mallorca, Spain.
Round 1 Photo Gallery
Round 2 on 2017/05/13 at 14.00
| Bo. | SNo. | Name | Pts | Res. | Pts | Name | SNo. | ||
| 1 | 16 | GM | Hou Yifan | 1 | ½ | GM | Vachier-Lagrave Maxime | 1 | |
| 2 | 2 | GM | Nakamura Hikaru | ½ | ½ | GM | Radjabov Teimour | 13 | |
| 3 | 10 | GM | Adams Michael | ½ | ½ | GM | Giri Anish | 3 | |
| 4 | 4 | GM | Ding Liren | ½ | ½ | GM | Inarkiev Ernesto | 11 | |
| 5 | 12 | GM | Gelfand Boris | ½ | ½ | GM | Mamedyarov Shakhriyar | 5 | |
| 6 | 6 | GM | Svidler Peter | ½ | ½ | GM | Salem A.R. Saleh | 17 | |
| 7 | 8 | GM | Grischuk Alexander | ½ | ½ | GM | Tomashevsky Evgeny | 15 | |
| 8 | 14 | GM | Vallejo Pons Francisco | ½ | ½ | GM | Harikrishna P. | 9 | |
| 9 | 18 | GM | Hammer Jon Ludvig | ½ | 0 | GM | Nepomniachtchi Ian | 7 | |
